Well this shouldn’t be that hard a writing assignment she cautiously mused, chewing on her pen cap nervously as her eyes went from the window to the door and back again.

She made it a point to always be ready to BoIt in less than a seconds notice. It was the end of the day and though she didn’t look up she could feel their eyes upon her as she quietly got up the nerve to stand. Closing her bleary and bloodshot eyes to the whispers; both real and imagined, she puts one foot out and begins her sojourn- a silent heal toe version af a battle march. (Her state appointed therapist assures her this is her mind and body working together to help her feel safe and a good sign). Her peers however… “That her? Well my mom works as a 911 operator and says it was the brother that did it. Wait I thought he was the one who died. The other one idiot. No it was her. She’s the one who just got out of the loony b- Something to add to the discussion, Therese ?”

Mrs. Baskerville offers a veneer of thin relief to her current problem but knows that’s all it will ever amount to. A thin veneer. Therese will be back in full heat by next assignment. She really shouldn’t care what these cretins think. It’s wholly disrespectful. Turning his whole existence, all of their experiences, into nothing more than fodder for the local teenage rumor mill. Then again, even she didn’t know or understand the truth. She tried to control her thoughts for just a moment. You are a stream. Let their words flow through you but never become a part of you. She carefully begins to dilate and blacken her eyes, slowly urging the words to become true. A wind that only she can feel begins to rise around her. Knowing eyes now the color of rainbow black reserved for oil spills and tar pits. “Brujah” was whispered in awe by spirits only the gifted could hear and only the cursed could see. The classroom began to fall away, replaced by sacred space and a clearing in tthe forest. She shook her hair free and sat cross legged on the sacred moss. Closing her eyes, exhaling, and

opening them again. Expecting to be alone and begin preparations with her families familiars to commune with the spirit animals and totems that were of significance to her tribe alone. However as soon as she began to hear the rain ,which was her personal sign for a successful travel of the spirit , she felt as though something hit her with all the force of a jaguar and she went sprawling. All of the conjured beauty evaporated quicker than she even had time to take in and she flew clumsily off her desk and hit the linoleum with a large thud, bruises and welts already forming on her elbows and knees. The black pools that were her eyes when completely open were already returning to half moons as she was forced to close them to the void. Thereby depriving herself of the answers she had worked so hard to ascertain.

Therese looked around, twice, then 3 times scanning for someone, hell anyone who could have seen what she saw. It was hard to put into words but it was definitely the work of Amelia. The foreigner who acted like she somehow knew more than the rest of the class combined. Always eerily quiet, her assignments on time. She was never observed laughing with the other girls her age or caught staring at a boy she fancied. It just wasn’t natural. She was obviously working hard to hide something; but prior To this instance Therese head been far too Horst t limiting in her guesses as to what. Was she really the only one to hear the tollbell and feel the sizzle of the lightning in quick succession. Other than Amelia herself of course she. Even now as she dared only look from the corner of her eye, the evidence was all over if you were only brave enough to look. Amelia’s cool black eyes device she had assumed were accentuated by contacts nothing more, were somehow leaking into the whites of her eyes like turpentine spilled onto a perfect oil portrait. Disproportioning the almond shapes into rocks of unchipped crystal dug harshly from the land. The beauty and mystery still selfishly hidden from the world at large. Being kept in its rock cocoon until a richer buyer could be found. Her own eyes narrowed as she eyed stage bruises that had seemingly come from nothing. One thing was for sure. She definitely had her where she wanted her now. For the first time all day. A silent smile painted her lips and her own eyes seemed to glow with a mix of power, passion, and white hot envy. She felt herself back on top and bit down hard enough to draw blood to prevent her lips from coiling into a smile or letting go of a laugh. She licked the blood off in one serpentine motion and was up and moving out of the classroom just before the bell even rang. To most the actions seems to fit together naturally. However if there was one person in tune with Therese’s supernatural disguise. It was Amelia